Chronicles of Chaos
LIKEaBIKE to Bike
Oliver rode his bike for the first time last week. He pulled his red hand me down bike out of the garage, put his foot on the pedal and started to ride. It was that simple. After two years scooting around on the LIKEaBIKE he was ready, the bike came easy. Wyatt had the same seamless transition at five years old, just as they outgrow the LIKEaBIKE. I’m still amazed.
Our first go around with Amelia learning to ride involved training wheels and a lot of running behind the bike, falls on the grass, and scraped knees. Training wheels are helpful but they rattle and the bike dips from side to side and I never knew how much I didn’t prefer them until once again I’ve avoided them. Or the achy back from hunching over to hold the back of the seat while she learned to stay upright. The first few days Oliver sometimes wanted a little help holding the handle bars straight as he started out, now he’s completely on his own.
I love the LIKEaBIKE for preschoolers, hands down the boys’ favorite. The fact that it also teaches them to ride a bike makes it even better.
We used a Strider bike for our little boy. I’m not sure if there is an advantage to using a wood one, but we liked the Strider even better for a few reasons. 1) the bike fit younger children better with a seat that went really low and a cross bar that wasn’t too high(he started on his 2nd b-day), 2) the handlebars were more curved like a true bike which made the steering easier and and more in control, 3) it came in fun colors they could pick out, 4) they had foam tires so you never have to replace them. He started when he was two and rode it for a year and a half and then just rode off on a 12″ bike just before he was 3 1/2. I totally agree that push bikes are so much easier and make learning to ride a bike more fun. We’ve had friends use Skuut bikes, and we also had a friend use the Early Rider Bike which had an adjustable seat like the LIKEaBIKE and more curved handlebars. The stores in our town all seem to be carrying KaZAM bikes.
Yes, there are great LIKEaBIKE options out there. I asked Wyatt why we had LIKEaBIKE instead of another kind and he said, “Because YOU liked the wood ones, Mom.” I vaguely remember that LIKEaBIKE had the tallest seat setting and knowing my kids were tall I think that’s why I chose one, by now there are likely others that have tall seat settings too.